Let’s see, Monday was all about some quick, cheesy and pretty healthy pasta. Tuesday was all about some 5 ingredient sweet chocolate and peanut butter cookies. Wednesday was the simplest – wild rice casserole, a perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving table. Thursday was just plain embarrassingly easy, cheesy puff pastry swirls <–SO GOOD by the way. And today – Loaded Chocolate Hazelnut Liquor Turnovers with Salted Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream .

I didn’t mean for all these beyond simple recipes to happen in one week, but hey, I am not going to complain about simple, easy recipes. Especially now with my oven broken… indefinitely.

Yeah, I have not a clue how we are going to cook our Thanksgiving turkey this year. John, who is working as a consultant on the Barn (so he is here working all the time) swears by this giant crockpot thing he cooks his turkey in. He says it even browns the thing. No idea how that is possible, but at this point, I think it is our only option.

Either that or no turkey and we eat soup… totally lame.

There will be turkey on Thanksgiving. With or without an oven. Still not sure how, but it’s gonna happen.

The earliest we are going to get our oven fixed is December 3rd, so I am going to be cooking out of a tiny 8-inch oven till then. Oh my gosh. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

But I guess I just need to be grateful that at least the I eight by thirteen inch oven works. Guess I will be cooking in batches for while. Again… oh man, still stressing. I mean this is high time, baking season.

I think I need a cookie. Or two.

Or actually a turnover, because I have three batches worth. YUMMERS.

So originally I had planned to show you guys something kind of Christmassy today, but then my mind told me that I should hold of until after Thanksgiving. It’s kind of stupid though since Thanksgiving is crazy late this year. I actually feel like we are being cheated out of the Christmas season because Thanksgiving is almost the latest it can ever be. I love Thanksgiving, but I will be honest here, I love Christmas so much more. It’s my favorite time.

It’s all good though because I am way too excited about these chocolate hazelnut liquor turnovers. They may seem so simple, but I promise, everything about these is deliciously awesome.

And how perfect are these for Thanksgiving? They’re like pie, but easier, and super cute because everything in small form is always way cute.

If you love chocolate and your adore pie crust, than these turnovers are so your thing. They are packed to the brim with lightly salted chocolate. And that pie dough? It’s spiked with hazelnut liquor, which if you didn’t already know is the tastiest thing ever. Just the smell of that liquor is awesome.

Oh jeez, and now I sound like an alcoholic. I promise, I only use booze to bake and cook with. It’s how I like to get my fix. Of course, as the title states, there is chocolate involved, practically a given with me.

I also sprinkled the chocolate with just a little coffee to really help the chocolate shine. Whoamazing I tell ya. And yes, I am making “whoamazing” a word.

Oh, and you can’t forget the whipped cream. Like the whipped cream is just AWESOME with these. I didn’t know what to call it because not only is it mixed with a little salt and vanilla beans, but I also added some hazelnut liquor to it as well. Literally it’s the best whipped cream ever. It’s the perfect last touch, and the vanilla flavors pair incredibly with the liquor and chocolate. Plus, just a pinch of salt makes these extra delish.

Have I mentioned I love salt? Because I do and especially with chocolate. I would expect to see a lot of salted things coming up over the next thirty-seven days – yep that’s how many are left – between now until Christmas.

And now I need to go figure out how to cook Thanksgiving dinner without an oven.

Salted Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Butter Toasted Almonds

2tablespoonsunsalted butter

3/4cupsliced almonds

2tablespoonshazelnut liquor

pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the crust, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium size bowl. Toss in the cold, cubed butter and then use your fingers or a dough cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture. Try to work quickly and break the butter down into the flour mixture.

Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk + hazelnut liquor. Use a fork to bring the dough together. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and shaggy. Divide the dough in two and gently knead each dough into round, flat disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze for 30 minutes. Using the fridge works best.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the dough has been chilled, roll out one round at a time, leaving the other round in the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piecrust to a 13-inch round. It is helpful if you can roll one crust into a 14 or 15 inch round. Lightly flour the two rounds and place them on top of each other. Cut the circle into 8 wedges, like a pizza, and place 4 wedges each of the two parchment-lined baking sheets. Remove the top wedge of dough and then divide the chocolate pieces evenly among each triangle, breaking them to fit within the triangle and leaving a 1/2-inch border on the sides and a 1 1/2-inch border at the wide end. Sprinkle the instant coffee evenly over each triangle and then sprinkle each triangle lightly with salt. Brush the borders lightly with the beaten egg. Cover with the top triangle, pressing the side edges firmly to seal. At the wide end of each wedge, fold the crust over and crimp decoratively to seal. Brush with more egg and then generously sprinkle with granulated sugar sugar or raw sugar. Cut 2 slits on top of each turnover.

Bake the turnovers until the crust is deep golden brown and the chocolate is melted, 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the whipped cream. Add the heavy cream to a large bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, hazelnut liquor and pinch of salt. Whisk until combined. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

To make the almonds, heat the butter in a skillet. Add the almonds and cook until toasted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the hazelnut liquor and pinch of salt.

Once the turnovers are done remove them from the oven and let cool 5 minutes. Transfer the turnovers, by lifting up the parchment paper, onto cooling racks. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm (best this way!) or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.

Do we love chocolate –yes we do!!! I would love to stay at the Hershey Hotel but I don’t think I could take a chocolate bath–that would be a waste of good chocolate. Oh you could make these feel like Christmas–what about putting in some crushed candy cane or mint chocolate chips?? Have a great and relaxing weekend.

Your turnovers look amazing! Definitely on my list to try between now and Christmas. I totally understand about the oven…I have been without one since Thanksgiving last year. We cooked our Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas ham in a big electric roaster pan, and did all of the sides and bread in the toaster oven. It took a little longer to get them finished that way, but they were still tasty! Happy Thanksgiving!

Yet another recipe of yours on my “Must. Make. Soon.” list! If they are anything half as good as those deadly Nutella-Pumpkin Pop-Tarts, I know I will be in heaven! And hey, take John’s offer to use that Crockpot thingie. My mom had a huge roaster like that and made our turkey in it every year and it was fabulous! You may never go back to making a turkey in your oven again (and it frees up your oven for all of the other lovelies I am sure you are planning to make!) Happy Turkeyday! Maureen

Whoa – wouldn’t this go great with my morning coffee? Can’t wait to try these Tieghan! Also please let me know about the crockpot thing for the Turkey. I need to free up my oven space and have been looking for a countertop equivalent! Thanks!

Oh NO to your oven being broken!!!! Ours has had some issues too and I feel like I never realize how often I use it until it’s gone. Hope that crockpot turkey turns out as wonderfully as promised. And until then, oh my goodness.. I think I’d be okay with eating these turnovers and ONLY these turnovers for every main, side, dessert, and everything in between at Thanksgiving. They are sublime. That melted chocolate — if this is simple, I don’t ever need complicated. Beautiful, Tieghan!

Chocolate, salt, pastry, whipped cream, coffee, hazelnut…pretty much all the things I want in my mouth all of the time. This looks delicious. As for your turkey dilemma, don’t fret, y’all will figure something out. I lived in Japan for a year once, and my friends and I insisted on cooking a proper Christmas dinner with a turkey in spite of the fact that no one had an oven….we ended up hauling a microwave with an oven feature across 3 trains in Tokyo and cooking a turkey in it. All I remember now is how much of an adventure it was. Maybe a crockpot turkey will be a very unique and fun Thanksgiving adventure. Hang in there!! The barn and turkey and life will fall into place!

How do you do it time after time?!!! These are simply stunning, Tieghan! Turnovers are my favourite, I would take them over almost any dessert. Sorry about the oven. A couple of years ago mine broke on December 23rd and things don’t get fixed quickly in England but a true Christmas miracle happened on Christmas Eve and I had a new oven in time for my Christmas dinner but I am not going to lie there were tears involved. Good luck with your tiny oven, you are right it’s better than nothing and it’s amazing it can produce such gorgeous turnovers!

Im havin problem with my dough turnover its so soft to handle after I rolled it. It keeps sticking to my to rolling pin which makes it impossible to roll…could it b the butter? I notice that in this recipe u used 1 cup….is that a lot?

Meet Tieghan Gerard.

I’m Tieghan, the recipes you’ll find here are inspired by the people and places I love most. I try to live simply, eat seasonally, and cook with whole foods. My hope is to inspire a love for amazing food, as well as the courage to try something new!